Brains of teenage delinquents ‘wired differently’

BRAINS of teenage delinquents are wired differently to those of their better behaved peers, research has revealed.

The first map of its kind has identified the roots of serious anti-social behaviour – and experts say it should be treated as a ‘real psychiatric disorder’.

Two regions of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex were thicker in troublesome youths – suggesting their development is disrupted.

Scientists used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans to compare the brains of 58 young males aged 16 to 21 diagnosed with conduct disorder to 25 controls.

The disorder is classed as displaying persistent problems such as aggressive and destructive behaviour, lying and stealing and weapon use or staying out all night.

Youths whose problems began in childhood had a strikingly higher number of links in thickness between brain regions than the controls. This was less noticeable in youths whose bad behaviour began in their teens. A second study of 37 badly-behaved 13 to 18year-old boys and 32 healthy controls got the same results.

Prof Graeme Fairchild, of Southampton University, said: ‘This provides extremely compelling evidence that conduct disorder is a real psychiatric disorder and not, as some experts maintain, just an exaggerated form of teenage rebellion.

‘These findings also show there are important differences in the brain between those who develop problems early in childhood compared with those who only show behavioural problems in their teenage years.

Prof Nicola Toschi, of the University Tor Vergata of Rome, said: ‘Until now we haven’t been able to see the clear – and widespread – structural differences in the brains of youths with conduct disorder.’

The findings in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry point to the importance of the brain in explaining conduct disorder’s development. But it is not clear how the structural differences arise, and whether they are due to genetics or environment.